Chandravati (poet)

{{for|an Indian village|Chandravati}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Chandravati
চন্দ্রাবতী

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = 1550

| birth_place = Kishoreganj, Bengal (now in Bangladesh)

| death_date = 1600

| death_place = Kishoreganj, Bengal

| occupation = Poet

| nationality =

| parents = Bangshidas Bhattacharya, Anjana Devi

}}

Chandrabati ({{langx|bn|চন্দ্রাবতী}}) was a medieval Bengali poet, widely considered as the first known female poet of Bengali language.{{cite book|last1=Congress|first1=Indian History|title=Proceedings - Indian History Congress|date=2002|publisher=Indian History Congress.|page=169|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRFDAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Chandravati%27s+Ramayana+is+perhaps+the+first+feminine+text%22|accessdate=27 April 2016|language=en}} She is best known for her women-centered Bengali version of ancient Hindu epic Ramayana.

Biography

Chandravati was born in a Bengali Brahmin family to Dwij-Banshidas Bhattacharya and Anjana Devi, in circa 1550 CE in the village of Patuyari, on the banks of the Fulesshori river in Kishoreganj which is currently located in Dhaka division of Bangladesh.{{cite book |last=Sen |first=Dinesh Chandra |author-link=Dinesh Chandra Sen |date=1988 |orig-year=First published 1923 |title=The Ballads of Bengal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fa4fAsmtVBEC&pg=PR14 |volume=1 |publisher=Mittal Publications |pages=14–}} Bansidas was a composer of Manasa's ballads known as Manasar Bhasan. According to Sambaru Chandra Mohanta, he was one of the composers of Manasamangal Kavya.

Chandravati was the first woman from the Indian subcontinent to compose the Ramayana in Bengali language. She also composed Malua and doshshu kenaram.{{cite book|last1=Mazumdar|first1=Sucheta|last2=Kaiwar|first2=Vasant|last3=Labica|first3=Thierry |date=2010 |title=From Orientalism to Postcolonialism: Asia, Europe and the Lineages of Difference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NtKMAgAAQBAJ|publisher=Routledge|page=56|isbn=978-1-135-21198-1|accessdate=27 April 2016}} She narrated the Ramayana from Sita's point of view and criticized Rama.{{cite web |url=http://www.darkshire.net/lizhenry/annotatrix/viewname.cgi?name_english=Chandrabati |title=Building A Digital Feminary |last1=Dev Sen |first1=Nabaneeta |author-link=Nabaneeta Dev Sen |work=Building A Digital Feminary: Chandrabati |publisher=Liz Henry |accessdate=April 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319171338/http://www.darkshire.net/lizhenry/annotatrix/viewname.cgi?name_english=Chandrabati |archivedate=March 19, 2012 }} Chandravati is a highly individual rendition as a tale told from a woman's point of view which, instead of celebrating masculine heroism, laments the suffering of women caught in the play of male ego.{{cite book |last=Bose |first=Mandakranta |date=2013 |title=A Woman's Ramayana: Candravati's Bengali Epic |series=Routledge Hindu Studies Series |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-62529-6}} She however couldn't finish her work.

References

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Category:1550s births

Category:1600 deaths

Category:Bengali women poets

Category:Mughal Empire people

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